After 20 years of trying to feed my family healthily and create a sustainable household, I have come to believe more strongly than ever that eating local is good for me, my kids and the planet. So, from time to time I'll post guides and resources, confessions and inspiration. Here's where you'll find the how-tos […]
The strawberries ripen sometime in May, then come the blueberries and blackberries and raspberries. In the best years, blueberry picking can continue through September. All around the Roanoke Valley are farms and orchards with fresh, often pesticide-free produce waiting for us to come fetch it. Here's a place to start if you're hoping to pick […]
Buying local can connect you with healthier food that is good for the environment and your community. It takes a bit of retraining -- like forming any good habit. But the rewards are delicious fruits, vegetables and proteins at the peak of their flavor. Below, find a few resources to get you started. Once you […]
After the snowiest March I can recall, I'm kind of pinching myself. It's April, right? Many years the forsythia and daffodils and cherry blossoms have disappeared already. But this season, the asparagus, the chives, the kale and spinach in my garden are just getting going. I know I'm not alone when I say I couldn't […]
I have shared this graphic on social media and in my newsletter over the last few months. But the more I sit in meetings about how to connect eaters with local food growers and the more I write about why local food matters to me, the more I love what this graphic does: It quickly […]
The evening skies got darker last Sunday and the weather in these parts took a turn for the raw, so there's no denying winter is just around the corner. Which, mostly depresses me, but I can stay positive for the next few months as my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, arrives and is quickly followed by the […]
If you live in Southwest Virginia, here is a guide to nearby pick-your-own apple orchards. Did your favorite farm not make this list? Comment or message me and I'll keep adding to make this directory as comprehensive as I can. Carter Mountain Orchard 1435 Carters Mountain Trail Charlottesville, VA 22902 434 977-1833 http://www.cartermountainorchard.com From September […]
Apples and fall fit together like two perfectly matched puzzle pieces. Just as the air acquires its seasonal snap, the apples are weighing down their branches, beckoning us to come pick them. And just as temperatures begin their slide, our kitchens are ready for slow cookers and warm ovens, for soups and pies, for the […]
I love herbs. All of them. Mint, oregano, rosemary, thyme, lavender, chives. We grow them as flowers and greenery, as bushes and ground cover. Some of them fill in as quiet background plants, others steal the show in their corner of the yard. I have a dedicated herb garden just outside the back door; the basil […]
As we march through Spring, past the asparagus and the strawberries, waiting patiently for zucchini canoes and tomato globes, we find ourselves in the months of greens. At our house, it begins with kale and spinach -- those cold-hardiest of veggies. We often have an early crop of lettuce, too, thanks to our trusty cold frame. This […]
To any of you who've been reading what I write for awhile, the story of how I cleaned up my eating act is a familiar one. In a nutshell, several forces converged to push me toward a healthier, more plant-based life than I'd grown up with: my husband and I put in a garden and we […]
Salads took center stage for my Spring class at The Roanoke Co-op. We built salads filled with grains and proteins, interesting textures and flavors -- and as much local as I could muster. We topped them with a choice of Ginger Sesame Dressing or Poppy Seed Dressing. Then we paired all those leafy greens with a […]
If someone asked my favorite course of a meal, I would, without a moment’s hesitation, tell them: Salad. Not bread, not dessert, not a thick juicy piece of meat. Not even soups or sandwiches or vegetable sides. Nope. It’s salad. I love how fresh and raw most of salad’s ingredients are. I love that so […]
I did not grow up in a garden. I was raised in the suburbs and largely fed from grocery store shelves. Though my father hailed from a nearby dairy farm and his parents still lived on the family land, I have next to no childhood memories of helping anyone dig or plant or harvest. It’s […]
There's no mystery as to why we eat soup in January. It warms us from the inside. It provides nutrients our bodies need now more than ever (when days are darker, outside exercise is harder and little fresh is growing in the ground). Soups are simple to make and even create cozy in our homes from […]
It was about this time of year, several years ago, that my husband and I decided we were ready to take on a new botanical project. The garden was winding down and the season of dreaming of spring was nearly upon us. Maybe a catalogue came in the mail? I'm not sure what our inspiration was. But […]
My favorite holiday of the year is two weeks from today. And I am nothing if not ready to start thinking about Thanksgiving. For many, the holiday countdown began long ago with checklists of what to knock out ahead, chatter about table decor and recipe testing in search of the perfect combination of sweet and savory, traditional and today. I'm a […]
With Jack O' Lantern carving at Halloween and the absolute necessity of a pumpkin pie on the Thanksgiving sideboard, pumpkins have long been central to fall. But does anyone else find it ironic that while pumpkin pie flavor has found its way into absolutely everything (Oreos! Pop-Tarts! Twizzlers!), pumpkins themselves are still considered more decor than food? […]
Last Saturday, I gathered my dishes and marched my way to the teaching kitchen at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op in my home town. I spread out my Thai Butternut Squash Soup and my Beautiful Beet Salad, my Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins, Blue Cheese Herb Spread and Apple Honey Cake. Plus I brought locally harvested Maitake […]
As I've been preparing to teach my class on cooking fall fruits and vegetables at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op this weekend, I can't help but contemplate: What is it about fall's flavors that make us swoon so? Is it the brief time they're in the spotlight? The nostalgia that comes with […]
Right around mid September in these parts the heat of the summer winds down, and for those who keep bees, it's the perfect time to gather that golden elixir they've been nurturing for months. So the beekeepers haul out their equipment and prepare for a sticky weekend of cutting open portions of their hives -- not too much, mind […]
I always forget how long it takes to grow a good tomato. The first ones begin blushing sometime at the end of June, if you're lucky. But it's usually well into July before the bounty arrives. And when I look back, it's typically August or September when we can our dozens of jars of marinara. That's […]
It's been a few weeks now, since my husband stepped outside to our verdant, twining cucumber vine, covered with sunshiny yellow petals and a healthy dose of meandering bees, and proclaimed that it wouldn't be long till we were in Cucumber Heaven. By that, he meant that we'd soon be reaching the height of our cucumber harvest, […]
Let's pretend I have all the time in the world to create sumptuous feasts. And all the resources in the world to gather up the tastiest ingredients. In this fiction, I wave my wand and on the table every night fantastical, incredibly delicious multi-course meals appear. My reality, of course, is quite different. Cooking is hard, time-consuming […]
It's been a disappointing zucchini year. Nothing like last year's plenty that left me begging for mercy. But that's okay. My dad sent me packing back in June with a bag full and my local farmers market tables are groaning with zukes. I feel certain that if I asked around, a few of you might […]
My husband is half Italian-American and nowhere is this clearer than the kitchen. Whether he's stirring up marinara from a recipe encoded in his DNA or pressing pizzelle at Christmas or building his tasty sausage lasagna layer by layer, Italian cuisine is his comfort zone. My heritage is more complicated: English, German, Eastern European but […]
Honestly, I'm not sure what's gotten into me. It's June and my garden is up and growing. I've got leafy greens winding down, raspberries coming in, zucchini flowers begging for me to sauté them. But somehow I keep reaching for my large mixing bowl and reflexively softening two sticks of butter. Yes, it's cookie-making that keeps […]
There's been a stretch of hot here in Southwest Virginia and it's spelling the end of what has been a wonderful few months of salad eating. We had red leaf lettuce from our cold frame in the chill of March and since late April we've been eating from a beautiful bed of mixed lettuces and endive, arugula and […]
It’s almost here, that amazing season of promise and possibility, when the sunshine warms us and the daffodils cheer us. And the spring greens, the spindly asparagus stalks and the tiny sprouts of new life actually, for the first time in so many months, feed us. Gone are the soups and stews of winter. […]
My first encounter with a chestnut was in my friend’s backyard. She and her family have a beautiful chestnut tree whose branches reach across their whole lot, providing shade and climbing for her three boys — even supporting a swank treehouse. So when I asked if she might have a few extra nuts for me […]
Thursday is Thanksgiving — a time to gather with family and friends, a day to indulge and relax. It’s an occasion to count our blessings and to spend time romping in the chilly sunshine and lounging in front of televised parades. It’s also the only holiday I can think of that is […]
We pulled out the tomatillo plants a few weeks ago. I’m missing them already. For years we had talked of growing these delightful cousins to the tomato but had never found the plants when we needed them. So we’d move on, regretfully. Next year, we’d sigh, we’ll try those tomatillos. Then this spring, it all […]
My husband is the magic behind our garden. It was his idea to begin growing our food the first summer we owned a home, all those years ago. He is the planner and planter. I’m the second-wave worker, on maintenance and harvest. But every now and then, I pipe up with a suggestion. What about […]
The basil came late to our garden this year. We planted it, same as always, but for some complex convergence of heat and rain, sunlight and nutrients and pollinators, it took awhile to get going. It was the same with the carrots. But now that a little rain has arrived, the carrots — and even moreso, their […]
Growing zucchini can be tricky at our house. We have a small yard with a big garden and once we attract insects like squash bugs or squash vine borers, it’s tough to find a way to give our plants a pest-free zone. One year in an attempt to save them from the bugs overwintering in our […]
My raspberry bushes made me so happy I could cry last week. For the first time since we bought those first woody canes four or five years ago, they produced more fruit than we knew what to do with. Bowl after bowl, day after day, we picked big, bright berries. And the next day, there […]
Garlic is not a mainstay of our garden. We have grown it a few times, but most years we struggle to find garlic bulbs in the fall, when it’s time to plant. Last year, though, I asked at my farmers market: Will you be selling any seed garlic this year? When should I look for […]
Strawberry season is nearly over at our house. We’re just about done with those three weeks or so in May when our two berry patches draw us in and don’t let go. Sleep? Dinner? Travel? Forget it. We have berries to pick! In the cool of nearly every evening, we search and snap the red […]
For four days I lived someone else’s life. I drove along country lanes connecting horse farms and wineries and estates, and ate multi-course breakfasts, lunches and dinners cooked by celebrated chefs often working just a few feet away from where I dined. I stayed at resorts and in manor houses […]
